Number 25: Cat Power

If you haven't heard, Chan's moving into her Dusty In Memphis phaze. For the first time every song is a fully fleshed out monster of aching, girlie, sadness, even the "hate myself and I wanna die derge."

Cat Power was the go to sad person band well before Elliot Smith plunged a knife into his heart and the horns and R&B tempoos to do nothing to change that. What they do indeed do is add to the ghostly nature and mystery surrounding Cat Power. Chan emotes better these days because she seems to have finally harnessed and focused her sadness into her work. There's even been a steady decline (maybe even a total end) to live Cat Power horror stories. Chan should have a big year in '06, if not than chalk it up to sexism and snobbery.

Number 26: Green Day

Who woulda thunk it? More than ten years after Dookie hipped us to the punk rock we're actually still a little bit concerned with Green Day. What's really surprising though is that Green Day is the biggest band in the world. Let that sink in for minute.

This year as we were hit with hit single after hit single, from their red kneck baiting concept album we were once again aloud to get sick of Green Day. Few bands have allowed us to get sick of them so often for so many years. But the real reason Green Day holds relevance is to acknowledging that big rock bands matter. Maybe not in some large geo-political sense but for what they instill in the youth. Admit it if you were just ten years younger American Idiot would've been amongst the defining cultural artifacts of your youth.